The men with the attaché case
The men with the attaché case are a group of three mysterious men that appear once in every main Wayside School book. They do not appear in the cartoon. Appearance The men with the attaché case are a group of three men with varying appearances. *One of the men is described as having a black mustache, and carrying a matching attaché case. *One of the men is described as having a black mustache like the first man, but does not carry any case. *The third man is bald, and does not have a mustache. Aside from these minor details, they are rarely described. Personality The men with the attaché case are mysterious characters, with little detail revealed about them. They appear once in every main book, and appear to be omnipotent, as they are perfectly able to recount every detail of Myron's life in "Freedom," and show awareness of the existence of Miss Zarves when no one else does in "Time Out." Despite this, they ask many questions to those who they encounter, possibly to get the perspectives of them, or alternatively, as a confirmation of what they already know. They write details they hear onto sheets of paper, which are stored in their attaché case, though it appears to be in a language that Myron does not understand, as seen when he signs the contract in "Freedom." Occasionally what they know appears to have frightening implications, as they briefly refer to Myron's desk as a "cage" in "Freedom." They are additionally shown to be likely all-controlling, possibly as the true authority of the school, as when Myron signs away his safety in favor of freedom in "Freedom," it is immediately put into effect. When Miss Zarves asks if they can remove a cow from her classroom, they also say that they'll "see what they can do." In "The Bells of Wayside," they additionally ring the rare "Erase-the-Blackboard Bell," which forces all teachers across the school to erase their blackboards and nullify all information written on them. Generally, the three act as a single unit, often repeating each others' words, or continuing each others' sentences. They show little emotion, as seen most notably in "Jenny" when they ignore Jenny's panic, though they do comfort Miss Zarves in "Time Out." Their tone of voice is generally very direct, though they also appear to withhold many details about their actions from the ones they encounter, as seen when they are briefly conversing with one another in "Jenny." Appearances The men with the attaché case have appeared in four book chapters. Major appearances are listed in bold. *"Jenny" *"Freedom" *"Time Out" *"The Bells of Wayside" Trivia *They are the only characters outside the nineteenth story capable of seeing Miss Zarves. *Although they are depicted in the Dennis Hockerman, Julie Brinckloe, and Satoshi Kitamura illustrations of Sideways Stories from Wayside School, they routinely have been left unillustrated otherwise, though the silhouette of one of them can be seen in the Peter Allen illustration of "Jenny." Gallery Jenny 1978.jpg|"Jenny" (1978) Jenny Chapter Brinckloe.png|"Jenny" (1985) Jenny Chapter Illustration.jpeg|"Jenny" (2004, in silhouette) Jenny Chapter Kitamura.png|"Jenny" (2010) Category:Characters Category:Adults Category:Males Category:Introduced in Sideways Stories from Wayside School Category:Alive characters Category:Book-exclusive content